In recent years, as an environmentally-friendly vehicle, an electric car, a hybrid car, a fuel-cell vehicle, and the like mounted with an electric storage device and a motor as a drive device are receiving attention. A hybrid car that can be charged from outside is also considered.
There is a charger, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 10-262303, wherein a key of an electric car is in a form of an IC card and the IC card is inserted into the charger to thereby enable battery charging in a vehicle sharing system.
However, in a case of an individually-owned vehicle, the IC card identifying a user of the charger and the key of the vehicle are not necessarily sharable. Moreover, the charger may be shared among a plurality of vehicles in a parking lot of an apartment house. In such a case, it is necessary to reliably identify a vehicle as a vehicle permitted to be charged at the time of charging.
Furthermore, it is preferable to ensure that the vehicle does not start traveling by mistake in starting charging of the vehicle.